Your Presence Is Always Present
by Mon-Era
Summary: They say moving on from losing a loved one is always hard – and Sora believes it. But what makes it harder is when someone who looks like said loved one appears before him.  Shounen Ai RoxaSora
1. Prologue: Your Absence Leave Marks

**Your Presence Is Always Present**

**Authoress: **Ehh Rah Jhoy

**Chapter Title: **Your Absence Leaves Marks

**Rating: **T

**Pairing: **Kingdom Hearts; Roxas/Sora – Yes, me likes SemeRoxas. Deal.

**Disclaimers: **I do not own the characters of Kingdom Hearts. Square Enix and Disney owns them. Although, I own Nagisa Irino.

**Warnings: **Shounen Ai.

**Summary: **They say moving on from losing a loved one is always hard – and Sora believes it. But what makes it harder is when someone who looks like said loved one appears before him.

**A/N: **Yahoo! Finally finished it! This chapter is freaking difficult for me to start – and I'm still on the prologue! I wrote about 5 failed drafts before this one.

Anyway~ Enjoy!

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><p><em>The Start.<em>

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><p><em>On May 29, XXXX, Roku Irino was declared dead after a one month disappearance.<em>

_A woman who wanted to remain anonymous had found a pile of bloody clothes on the shores of Destiny when she was on her daily walk. "It was really bloody, almost that I thought it was a mutilated body, chopped to pieces or something," said the woman. "I panicked and immediately called the police."_

_The pile of clothes were taken to the CSI to be identified and they found out that the blood on them belong to the missing Roku Irino. The boy had been missing for one month after the day of a family reunion in the boy's family's house. The boy's family was immediately informed of the discovery._

_"It's his clothes! I remember that checkered pattern anywhere!" confirmed Nagisa Irino as she wept for her lost son._

_As of now, the local police, with the help of the CSI team, are looking for the kidnapper and murderer of one Roku Irino._

That cut-out piece of newspaper should have been thrown – crumpled into a grey paper ball and inside a paper basket where it was going to wait until it come to the garbage dump, either burned or recycled.

Sadly, it was still in one of Sora's many folders, straight and only mildly creased.

And Sora, as much as he loathe the paper piece, had no will to cast the old newspaper that wrote about his dear older brother.

As Sora gazed blankly at the piece, images of his brother showed themselves to his mind – an older blond holding his smaller hand as they walked down the mall's marble floor; a grouchy blond glaring for being woken up early by their sweetly smiling mother; a sweaty blond in a Struggle match against a grumbling and steadily losing foe; a smug blond grinning at him as they played a round of arm wrestle after the brunet already lost the first few ones; a pouting blond grumbling as Sora won another round of Mario Kart for the millionth time – and more.

Sora smiled a fond yet sombre smile at the memories.

It had been almost three years now since Roku-nii's death and May 29 was nearing. It was almost time for another day of mourning for a loss of a loved one and wishing of good luck to said loved one where ever they were now.

At the start, they weren't sure when his brother had really died – the blood on the collected clothes was already and surprisingly dry when found – and since the murderer was never found – something Sora wanted to strangle the police for sometimes – the official day for the death remained unknown. At the end, they recorded it on May 29 as it was the time they found the bloody clothes.

Sora frowned, a crease appearing between his brows. Now that he remembered it; no body was also found. Only the clothes and the blood. The police and CSI agents had searched all over Destiny shores but no signs of a dead corpse was found.

But they were sure that the blood belonged to Roku Irino.

Sora decided to stop himself from continuing to think about his brother's mysterious death and concentrated on his current task – the dark clouds of loss and longing and 'what-if's were beginning to surround him and Sora didn't like them one bit right now.

Closing the red folder and placing it back inside the shelf, he wondered idly for what did he had that folder for. It held only that piece of paper and a few school tests and assignments from before. It held no significance whatsoever, except for the newspaper piece.

Sora pulled out another folder – this one being in a bright blue colour. Opening it, he skimmed the papers it contained and let out a small sound of triumph. Sketches, designs and art doodles made up the whole pile of paper – just what he wanted.

Pulling himself up from where he was squatting down in front of the bookshelf, Sora clutched the folder to his chest and walked out of his room. Through the hallway and down the stairs, he went. On the way to the backyard, he passed by the kitchen where his mother was.

Nagisa Irino was a thin woman who possessed a long, messy mass of light brown hair and bright blue eyes – a feature that was graciously passed down to her children. Despite her frail-looking form, the woman had a strength that purely showed her prowess in karate and Sora was always proud to call her his mother – especially after she showed said prowess to one Riku Miyano, playfully of course.

"Hey, Mum!" the brunet chirped, leaning up to place a short kiss on the woman's cheek. Nagisa replied the greeting with a bright smile of her own.

"Hello, dear. I was wondering, who's going to drive you to Twilight Town next week? You are going to watch that Struggle match thing with your friends, right, on Friday. 'Cos I can drive you guys if you want before I–." said the woman as she wiped her wet hands on the apron around her waist.

Sora let out a chuckle and interrupted her, "That's tomorrow, Mum –Tuesday. And I already told you yesterday that Riku has a driver's permit so we're riding with him."

Nagisa blinked. "Oh." Sora chuckled once more; his mother might be a black-belt but her forgetfulness of simple things was her flaw. "Ah, well. At least, that means you'll be free on Friday. It's–"

"–May 29. I know, Mum. Like I would forget that."

Seeing the sudden woeful expression on her son's face as the brunet looked away, the woman felt a tug at his heartstrings. Nagisa leaned down and pressed her thin lips on Sora's forehead in a comforting and, at the same time, apologetic peck. Sora closed his eyes, releasing a quiet sigh, before he opened them again, smiling up at his mother – he continued to look a bit bleak but his smile told her not to worry.

Nagisa smiled back. "We have to bring some sea-salt ice-cream on Friday. It's his favorite even though I still don't understand why." she commented after a small pause.

Sora chuckled.

The sharp sound of ringing startled them from their moment and after ruffling her son's spiky hair which Sora retaliated with a poke on the stomach, Nagisa hurriedly moved towards the source of ringing – the house phone. Before the woman could disappear into the living room, Sora exclaimed, "I'll be at the backyard if you need me!"

With that, the sixteen year old brunet walked out of the kitchen and into the grassy yard; he was in the mood for sketching under the sun.

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><p><em>The End.<em>

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><p>Next Chapter: Trip to Twilight Town – Sora gets lost and confused.<p> 


	2. Unseen Bond

**Authoress: **Ehh Rah Jhoy / Era

**Chapter Title: **Unseen Bond

**Rating: **T

**Pairing: **Roxas/Sora – Yes, me likes SemeRoxas. Deal.

**Disclaimers: **I do not own the characters of Kingdom Hearts. Square Enix, Disney and Tetsuya Nomura owns them.

**Warnings: **Shounen Ai. Hints of incest(maybe).

**Summary: **They say moving on from losing a loved one is always hard – and Sora believes it. But what makes it harder is when someone who looks like said loved one appears before him.

**A/N: **Yes, my dear readers, I tend to procrastinate, so excuse me for the lateness. -smiles charmingly- Anyway! Yeah, I probably will update once a month. But if it's any compensation, I'm having my two month summer vacation, so I'll try to update once a week. But like I said, I procrastinate.

Moving on, thanks to those **who put my story in favorite and alert**. And special thanks to **Innocent Uke or NOT** and **Whimsical Dreamers** for the reviews. -thumbs up-

And of course, thanks to my sister, **Mon**, for coming up for the title of this chapter. I was gonna put Trip To Twilight Town if not for her -coughrarecough- smartness. -thumbs up-

Enjoy!

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><p>.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.<p>

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><p>Destiny Islands were located at the south-east of the mainland, separated by and surrounded of sea water. Thus, the only way to get there was only by the ferry, which lasted about two hours before it came to the port a few kilometres outside of the nearest city which was Twilight Town. Add the two hours with the half hour trip from the port to Twilight Town, the full trip would be two hours and a half trip, both by boat and car.<p>

But to Sora, it felt like it lasted more than that.

Fortunately, they just entered the designated city and was staring in awe at the tall brick buildings, shops and houses. They could even see the top of the famous Clock Tower from where they were. The sun was set at the west, peeking from behind the thin clouds and covering the whole city in an endless sunset.

"Man, I'm hungry! Can we stop and buy some food first before the tournament?" said Sora as he turned from gazing dazedly at the orange-tinted sky and to his best friend who was at the driver's seat. Without looking at him, Riku answered with a shrug.

"Ask Kairi."

"Sure. I'm hungry, too." Said redhead answered from the back seat.

Sora grinned and looked down at the map of Twilight Town he had on his lap. He hummed thoughtfully as he tried to pinpoint the nearest restaurant. "Well, there's a small café here at the Market Street. We could go there." his two friends agreed and Riku steered their car towards the street Sora was pointing. "Just there... Near that clothes shop at the corner."

They had about two more hours before the Struggle tournament begin at one o'clock and were planning on spending it roaming around the city. After an early lunch, of course, 'cause one could not enjoy the amazing sights with an empty stomach.

As they sat themselves in one of the corner booths near the wide glass window occupying one wall, Sora looked around the café in interest. There were only a few customers present; a slow day for the workers, it seemed. A waiter made his way to them immediately and gave them menus. Sora delighted in the Paopu Parfait they had and instantly ordered that, along with a chocolate muffin. Riku merely ordered a cappuccino - the coffee addict, he was - while Kairi would have a chicken salad and milkshake.

"Oh, I just remembered. Who's going to compete for Destiny Islands again?" Kairi spoke up as they waited for their food. Sora turned to her but Riku answered her question.

"Yuichi something..."

Sora nodded. "Yuichi Kanata. Although Destiny probably won't win. We hadn't won for about more than a decade now, there's small percent chance Kanata would bring back the trophy."

Kairi hummed and was about to add something when the waiter from before came back, this time with their orders. "Ah, thank you." said Kairi as Sora began tasting his Paopu parfait. When the waiter went back to the kitchen, the redhead of the group continued, "Not to mention, Setzer might be participating for Twilight Town."

"Or Seifer. It's a close competition between those two." added Riku before he sneakily tore a bit of Sora's muffin and ate it, the brunet noticing it a second later.

"Hey!"

Kairi giggled and also began eating her salad. After chewing down the first bite, she started, "It's a shame Selphie and the others couldn't come."

Sora perked up at that. "Now that you mention, why didn't they come again?" A softly muttered 'doofus' came from besides, specifically from his silver-haired best friend. Sora pouted and childishly stuck out his tongue at the other. "Shut up, Riku! It's not my fault I'm forgetful."

Riku rolled his eyes but a hint of fondness was seen in his alluring aqua eyes. "Yeah, it is. And don't you say that you only inherited it from your mother."

Kairi shook her head with an amused smile. "I agree with Riku there," Her friend's pout deepened into a sulky one at that. "Anyway, Tidus and Wakka are having a blitzball match at Friday so they're training. Selphie says that when they win that match, they'd qualify for the Destiny Islands Blitzball Tournament."

"Oh." Sora merely said and took a bite out of his parfait, the long-stemmed spoon sticking out of his mouth. Bright blue eyes moved to stare out the window as thoughts of Friday began forming in his mind. He wanted to watch the blitzball match to cheer for his friends but he already had planned something for that Friday.

It was his brother's death anniversary.

He and Mum was going to have lunch there at the cemetery, like a small, short picnic of some kind. Then, probably spend the rest of the day moping around or something. Well, he wasn't sure what his Mum would do after, but Sora was certain that he'd be up at his room like always, mourning for the loss.

Glancing down at his lap, he bit the spoon still inside of his mouth and waited for that familiar squeeze in his chest to fade away. It had been two... three years now since the death but it still hurt. The wound was still sensitive to direct touch. A sigh escaped Sora through his nose. Well, at least he wasn't the lost little brother crying inside his room and locking himself there from before. That meant he had moved on a bit.

"Sora?"

The call for his attention snapped him out of his steadily becoming depressing thoughts and looked up, catching both Kairi and Riku's eyes on him. "Huh?" he said as he pulled the spoon out of his mouth.

"You okay? You got really quiet there." Kairi sounded worried and Sora smiled reassuringly at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Just thinking about something." But the redhead didn't look convinced and Sora feared she might prod in the matter more, but an understanding smile took over her face. A calloused hand ruffled his hair and the brunet looked up to see Riku smiling at him too. Sora felt a faint pink tint his cheeks; his friends must have known what he was thinking.

Well, the death and it's effect on Sora was not a secret to them. They were there when he had closed off the world and holed himself in his room for days. They were there, comforting him and pleading for him to go out and helping him move on.

And Sora was grateful to have them as friends.

A bright, sincere smile formed on Sora's cherubic face and he chirped, resuming their earlier conversation.

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><p>Sora was often described as the joyful and cheerful child; going through life with an optimistic attitude and always smiling even when things hurt him (however, when it hurts others, mostly his friend and families, it was the opposite). He was, although not so bright in academic subjects, was better than average at Arts and Crafts. He was adventurous and the epitome of all things good and bright.<p>

He was also often distracted.

"Ah, man! Where'd Kairi and Riku go?" Sora muttered as he came to a stand near a food stall. A small pout was upon his lips while his brows were softly furrowed.

After the small lunch at that café, they had went out to see what sights Twilight Town could give. Sweet Kairi had a shopping spree in the Market Street while Sora and Riku entertained themselves with the food stalls and game shops, more so in Sora's part than the latter. The brunet had suggested to go and see the Clock Tower but unfortunately for him, they only had half an hour before the tournament starts and must get going to the Sandlot.

They didn't know how many Struggle fanatic there were until they came to the sight of a large crowd walking down the street to the Sandlot. They had to worm their way at the side of the crowd to avoid being squashed by so many bodies. Not to mention, they had to stick together to avoid being lost inside the growing crowd.

But as aforementioned, Sora was often distracted. This time, by an arguing couple who looked like they were about to tear each other's throat in anger (but really, who could not ignore an arguing couple?). By the time the brunet tore his eyes away from the two people on the ground, his companions were nowhere in sight.

"Stupid Sora!" the teen grumbled and smacked his forehead in frustration. There was only a quarter of an hour left before the tournament starts and he really didn't want to miss it because of something so stupid as getting lost.

Well, he wasn't that lost. After all, he was still in the street leading to the Sandlot so it would be easy to just go there and sit down to watch the Struggle matches. But it wasn't as fun as it would be without Riku and Kairi.

Then again, his two friends might be there now, waiting for him.

When he turned around to follow the moving crowd to the Sandlot, his mind was still preoccupied and thus, did not notice the young man standing near him until they collided with a soft thump. Good thing the stranger was great at balance or both of them would have fallen both to the dirty ground.

"Uff," Sora winced and opened his eyes, having closed them earlier. Immediately, he took a step back and nervously bowed his head as he apologized, a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going! Sorry about that!"

Eyes regarded him for a moment and Sora took the short time to observe the man, or rather the teen he bumped into. Golden hair was swept into a unique spiked style while blue eyes met his dead on. He looked the same age as Sora and looked so uncannily like him too, appearance-wise, except, of course, the hair and ... aura. The other teen had a rather blank expression on his face, seemingly not bothered over the collision.

The blond opened his mouth to say something while his blue eyes suddenly took on a strange glint that left Sora oddly entranced. For some weird reason, he wanted to touch the teenager and offer a ... something that the brunet wasn't sure what. Unconsciously, he took a small step forward.

Sora was too busy staring off into space to notice the flitting regretful expression on the other's face. The blond teen blinked and Sora's mind suddenly came back to who-knows-where it gone to. He was left blinking and attempting to remember what happened. Sora started when the other spoke up.

"It's okay," said the stranger, giving a small nod, before he stepped aside and walked past Sora. Still bewildered about what had transpired a few minutes ago, Sora watched the boy's retreating back with a soft, thoughtful frown. What had really happened? It had went on too quickly for him to carefully process anything. He hadn't possibly dazed off voluntarily. Sure, his mind was known to easily wander off at times; but now of all times? Sora sighed and shook his head.

Although, to be honest, it wasn't that thought that occupied entirely his mind. It was that nagging feeling of familiarity – of having met the blond teenager before – that buzzed at the back of his head, even when he had turned to continue on to the Sandlot and was found and chided by a worried Kairi and an annoyed Riku.

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><p>As soon as he was away from prying eyes and hidden under the veil of darkness in a random alley, Roxas' feet buckled under him and was soon kneeling on the rocky ground, one hand clutching the brick wall for support. He released a pained groan and gripped the part of his chest where his heart was.<p>

"Really, Roxas. You shouldn't restrain yourself that much." came a frowning voice as a tall man appeared from behind the heavily panting blond. "Look at yourself."

"Shut up, Axel..." Roxas retorted, his word coming out slightly chopped and breathless. He turned his head and looked up at the man with a tired yet scalding glare. Bright blue and crimson red swirled in a strange mixture in his irises.

Axel raised up his hands in defence and shrugged. "Just looking out for my best friend." The redhead watched in slight worry and disapproval as Roxas tried to calm down. It was in vain, really; the sharpened nails of his hands was now scratching the ground while the red colour had dominated his eyes. His fangs were glistening with saliva.

Axel sighed and rubbed the back of his hand. "Wait here. There's no use letting you hunt alone like that." Seeing the tell-tale sign of Roxas' eyes widening, he added with worry-not smile. "Don't worry. I'll get someone from the slums."

Before Roxas could voice out his thoughts about that, Axel had casually walked out of the alley. In growing irritation, he pounded his fist on the wall, leaving cracks and small pieces of maroon bricks to fall off.

He felt so weak and useless; not to mention, very thirsty because of the fight yesterday night that lasted until dawn. It was embarrassing how he needed Axel to get him his... nourishment. He could have taken that brunet boy easily and was in the process of it, too, but something stopped him.

Something that had escaped him before he could grasped what it was.

Maybe, it was his conscience. That happened, not often, but sometimes; a short moment of feeling he wasn't – didn't want to be a monster.

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><p>.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.<p>

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><p>Dun. Dun. Dun. Duuuun...<p>

Yeah...

-whispers- Whimsical Dreamers, I voted on your poll~ -winks and thumbs up-


	3. Bittersweet Second

**Authoress: **Ehh Rah Jhoy / Era

**Chapter Title: **Bittersweet Second

**Rating: **T

**Pairing: **Roxas/Sora

**Disclaimers: **I do not own the characters of Kingdom Hearts. Square Enix, Disney and Tetsuya Nomura owns them.

**Warnings: **Shounen Ai.

**A/N: **I'm really sorry for the lateness. When was my last update? Two or three months ago, right? Really very sorry about that. And here I thought I could post at least two chapters this summer. But my laziness kicked in. I tried, really! So in compensation, I tried to make this longer.

-sigh- But excuses aren't going to do anything, huh.

And oh, I turned on the Anonymous Reviewer thing; I didn't know it was disabled.

Again, thank you to those who reviewed and added my story to their favourites and alert. Thank you very much! And to answer some few other's question, Sora didn't recognize his Roxas as his brother because really, what would you think if you saw someone who looked like a friend/relative of yours who had died three years ago? I asked my Mum and Dad and my sister this and they answered that they'd think it was someone who only looked like their relatives/friends. Not to mention, Sora only saw Roxas for less than two minutes. And Roxas, you'll know when you read.

Anyway, read on and enjoy!

I don't have a beta-reader so mistakes can be found. Feel free to voice them.

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><p>.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.<p>

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><p>May 28<p>

As far as Roxas had known, his life before was no more than a haze of broken memories. Well, he couldn't really well call it __his__life exactly, considering the circumstances.

When he had time, between all his missions and activities, to ponder the life of this body when it was still human, it was like floating through a fog of moving pictures that started and ended in irregular times. There was no colour, merely shades of sepia, like old-day pictures. There was no sound either, not even subtitles to help him understand what they were saying or talking about. And the people in them; they had no faces at all. No matter how much he concentrated, the persons in them stayed the same unclear image, like a blotch of greyish paint blocking their faces and their outlines blurred.

The mist – as he dubbed grey paint and blurred lines – was always present to hinder him from seeing the pictures clearly; as if hinting that he should not be there in the first place; that the past of this body was not his business. The memories were not _his._ They did not belong to the Roxas now, not with his unnatural glory as such for a creature of the night, but to the human Roxas before.

No, not _Roxas_. They probably don't share the same name.

But no matter how many times he came to that conclusion, Roxas would come back each and every time – not as often but not as rare either – just to see if there was any change. If he could solve the mysteries of this body's past life. Like what he was doing now – or rather, a moment before.

Roxas cast the thoughts and memories away, to the darkest, deepest corner of his mind. Throwing the now-dry ice-cream stick, Roxas' eyes stayed at the thin piece of wood as it fell to the ground below from the height of the top of the Clock Tower and land at the street below. He stood up and stepped back from the edge, eyes rolling upwards to the sun and it's orange sky. Sometimes, Roxas was annoyed at the endless sunset of his town; there was no telling what time it was, especially if you didn't have a watch. The Clock Tower was also useless in that case; the large clock at the top had stopped moving for a long time now.

Nonetheless, thought Roxas as he pivoted on his heels, better get going. With a wave of his hand and an silent order from his mind, a black, oval portal appeared before him and he stepped through, feeling the wisps of darkness gently touched his pale, cold skin. After two small steps, he suddenly found himself standing at the middle of an empty hallway.

He headed towards the far end of the hallway, where the bare, white walls spread out to a vast, circular room with high ceilings and the same plain white paint. Abnormally tall chairs, or rather, thrones were placed accordingly at the centre of the room, forming a circle. They were the same colour as the wall, a mere shade darker, and Roxas idly suspected that they were made of cement and not wood as he moved to his own place at the circle.

As if sensing him, the white throne slid down to a normal height and Roxas flopped himself down on the seat. Sliding upwards, the throne transformed back to it's tall glory, taking the blonde teenager with him at the top.

"You're early, Number Thirteen."

Mildly surprised, Roxas turned his head to the side, seeing two of his fellow comrades – Nine and Six – at their own seats. "Zexion. Demyx." he acknowledged.

Zexion silently nodded his head as a greeting then turned back to the book he was reading. Ever the active one, Demyx waved cheerfully and greeted him in a way that made Roxas wonder how could a vampire be so … human-like – so oblivious and seemingly innocent. "Hey, Roxy! How've ya been doing?" Then again, there were abnormalities even in their own kind.

"Just fine."

Demyx smiled and went back to playing with his sitar, humming melodies under his breath, while Zexion had already started to ignore them. Silence surrounded the three, not tense but not comfortable either. Roxas himself was leaning on the armrest away from the two, his head turned away. He'd been in the Organisation for three years now; he'd had the chance to be in a mission with every member, even the Superior though they were not always alone together, really. But there was a thick, solid line between 'fellow members' and 'friends'.

His relations with the other Organization members was almost non-existent. If Roxas could and had the strong desire, he'd have left the Organization years ago. But you couldn't just give a resignation letter and leave. There was fifty-fifty chance that they'd make you disappear for ever if you do that.

After all, as aforementioned, if he had the strong desire to leave. Roxas, although having felt a small urge to disband from the Organization, was content with what he had now. The Organization's goal and what it gave to him because of that was worth enough for him to stay. The Organization gave him a cure to his boredom.

So lost in his thought, Roxas failed to notice the coming of more members until he caught the Superior's form from the corner of his bright blue eyes. The meeting was about to commence. He straightened up in his throne, using the moment to look at the other thrones. They were all filled; he caught Axel's small smirk and rolled his eyes as greeting.

Once the Superior, a looming and intimidating man going by the name, Xemnas, sat on his own white throne opposite from Roxas, the meeting started. And ended some time at midnight.

"These guys really have a death wish." said Axel conversationally as he and Roxas walked through the corridors of the castle. They were heading towards their own rooms, wanting to get started with the new mission assigned to them.

During the meeting, Xemnas had informed them more about the current problem in their world. Xemnas and Saix were rather impatient at eradicating this new problem. The problem being a rogue vampire, with high ambition for power, running loose and making unguided fledgling vampires here and there. The death toll in the nearby cities and the nature of the killings - blood nearly completely drained and no visible wound where the blood could have leaked out - were making the humans suspicious. Add that to the missing persons who, in fact, became these fledgling vampires. There was no time to wait; the Council - a group of who represents each supernatural creatures; vampires, witches and warlocks, werewolves, etc. - was becoming anxious and pressuring the Organization into taking action immediately.

"They're idiots, what do you expect." said Roxas. He stopped at his door, twisted the knob and pushed it open. Before he could take a step inside, he halted and glanced up at the sound of a voice calling his name. He and Axel, who was standing in front of his own opened door across Roxas', watched as a petite blonde came jogging towards them.

"Hey, Namine." greeted Axel and Roxas.

"Hey." replied the girl as she ceased her strides before them. She was mildly panting from jogging from her room at the uppermost floor of castle to theirs, which was four floors lower. "I'm glad I got to you guys before you go to your mission." continued Namine.

Roxas and Axel had questioning looks on their faces and this prompted Namine to smile. "I had a vision."

At hearing his words, both males turned serious. Namine was a great witch in their world; famous for her vague predictions and knowledge of the mind. When she said she had a vision, one better listen; even the Superior was attentive to her warnings and advice.

"It's nothing serious really," said Namine. She held out a plastic bag at the two boys and Roxas, quite intrigued, took it from her. From the looks of confusion, she explained, "It's better if you guys went in disguise for this mission. Think of a name to go by because you will need it."

Roxas, although still bewildered, nodded uncertainly while Axel arched an eyebrow at the girl. "S'pose you're not going to tell us why, will ya?" asked the redhead.

Namine gave an apologetic smile at the taller male and shook her head. Before they could question or persuade her for further answers, the teenage-looking girl walked away, throwing a 'Good luck!' over her thin shoulder before disappearing at a corner.

"I really hate it when she gets mysterious on us." said Roxas as he checked the contents of the plastic bag, with Axel agreeing at his side. "Well, there's something like hair spray here and some coloured contacts." Roxas eyed his friend from the corner of his bright blue eyes and asked, "Think we should follow her advice?"

Axel shrugged. "Not like disguising's going to be a hindrance to capturing Mr I want a powerful coven."

"Yeah... But I'm not going to wear contacts. They're annoying." With that, the blonde grabbed a random hair colour spray, gave the plastic bag to Axel and walked inside his room.

"Ugh. I like the colour of my hair just fine! Can't I just wear a hat or something!" came Axel's whining at the other room, travelling through their opened doors. Roxas rolled his eyes.

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><p>MAY 29<p>

His chest was feeling constricted. It was neither painful nor pleasing. But as he stood over the grave of his brother, Sora was not surprised at all to feel it during this time. It always happened when his brother was involved, or to be more precise, when unwanted memories concerning his brother's death was involved. He didn't feel this constricting feeling when thinking of fun memories of his brother – of joys and laughter; only a content yet yearning feeling.

Not this tense squeeze around his heart.

Nonetheless, he threw the thought of it aside for the moment and knelt down in front of the grave marker. His mother, Nagisa, stood at his side, lighting a long, white candle. Sora himself held a bouquet of flowers - white roses and forget-me-nots - and placed them at the side of the marble stone, just besides the words engraved.

_Here lies the greatest of brother_

_and the loveliest of son_

_Roku Irino_

_Birth: December 13 – Death: May 29_

"Hope you're doing fine, Roku." said Nagisa as she too knelt down to place the candle at a small glass holder. "I'm sorry, dear, that we can't stay long." The woman glanced and smiled apologetically at her second son. Sora returned it with a worry-not smile. Smiling fondly, Nagisa turned back to the silent grave. "And here I was, planning a small picnic here, but my boss is going crazy and he needed me."

Sora let out a small chuckle at that while Nagisa stood up, placing a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "So true. Mr Michael's going crazy about Mom. If only Mom's not so strict with the 'relationship with a co-worker' thing." Sora suddenly winced and clutched the back of his head where his mother had just given him a smack.

Nagisa coughed into a hand, then smiled gently at the grave. "Anyway, Sora and I are doing mighty fine. Your brother's grades at school's finally getting better."

"Hey!" Sora huffed. "My grades are just fine even before."

Ignoring her second son, Nagisa continued a seemingly one-sided conversation with the grave of his first child. "Roku, dear, there's nothing else I can say right now, other than … I –– we love you. You'll always be in our heart."

Sora turned his eyes upwards from the scene, not because of it being too mushy for him to handle, but because he wasn't sure what to say to that. Of course, he agreed with her. There was truth in his mother's words. He felt the same way as her; Roku would always be in their memories no matter what – he would always be his brother and her first-born.

"Well, we should be going then," said Nagisa after a moment of peaceful silence. Although not sure if she were speaking to him or to Roku, Sora nodded slowly.

"Yeah …"

Nagisa glanced at her second son's face and smiled, "I'll be going first. I'll wait for you in the car, Sora."

Sora nodded again and remained staring down at the grave until the sight of his mother's back disappeared out of view. He sighed and knelt down, a small frown marring his features.

"Roku …" Hesitation rang clearly in his tone before he steeled himself. " … I'm going to be honest with you. I still wish you're here, with me and Mom. I still feel sad and angry sometimes when thinking of how … you d-died, and at the one who did that to you. I'd think of finding him myself and see if he'd like what he did to you done to him." Taking a deep breath, he smiled softly. "But I also know you wouldn't like it if I think like that, huh. You would want me to live my life cheerfully and happily as always, without the thought of revenge. Mom, too. Well, we're living as happily as we could; Mom's boss told me he's going to promote Mom – of course, that's still a secret until next week – and I'm planning on continuing with Arts and Crafts. I wanted to work behind a movie set one day as I had said to you before."

Standing up and dusting his jeans of dirt, one of Sora's bright smiles formed on his face. "We're happy and content now but we won't forget you. I'm really glad you're my brother."

* * *

><p>After the visit to the graveyard, his mother immediately drove off to her work as one of the cooks in the resort; that was after driving Sora to their home street, of course. Riku, Kairi and the others were at the blitzball match at the local school that day. If it was any other day, Sora would have gladly be with them, cheering on Wakka and Tidus, but it wasn't any other day. It was his brother's death-day and he couldn't fully encourage his friends in their game when he was rather gloomy himself. He'd cause more unwanted problems when he's with them during this time. Sora could just hear Kairi's worried are-you-okays and imagine Riku's meaningful looks.<p>

Therefore, Sora was planning on going off to the other Destiny isles nearby and just wandering 'bout. It was better than staying inside at home, moping here and boring himself to death there. Fresh air would at least try to lighten his mood up.

Food, too.

With that decision in mind, found Sora taking one of the ferries to the Destiny island next door, Mered. Unlike his home island, Altoria, which was known for it's resort and best vacation spot title, Mered was the so-called 'business centre/island' in Destiny. Shops and boutiques, restaurants and cafés, and the Destiny News building and DP (Destiny Police) department was located there. Only about less than a half of the island was houses and lots.

Sora and his mother had to come here at least once a month to buy their daily necessities since Mered's small market was rather short on stocks. And the distance between the islands of Destiny took pretty much ten to fifteen minutes by ferry, which makes nearly fifty rounds every day.

In short time, Sora was strolling through the shopping centre, making his way to his favourite café. As he entered, he was met with the sight of oaken chairs and tables with glass candle holders and a small vase of flowers, of dark cream wallpapers and golden ceiling, of a white, pristine counter and a glass shelf with cakes, breads, drinks and other snacks. All the seats were almost filled with customers but there was no one waiting in line at the counter.

"Sora!" the man behind the counter exclaimed, waving a hand at the brunet teen. Sora grinned and hastened his steps.

"Mr Takeru!"

"It's been a while since I last seen you! Where have you been?"

Sora gave a small chuckle, "Oh, here and there. I got a bit busy at home, you see."

"Okay then," Takeru smiled and gestured his hand at the menu plastered at the top of the counter. "So, what will you have today?"

It only took a short moment for Sora to ponder his order. "Paopu parfait and a piece of chocolate cake, please."

Nodding, Takeru calculated the cost, and Sora took out some munny from his pocket and handed it to the man. Takeru turned his back on Sora as he proceeded to make Sora's order. Behind the white counter, another counter was located at the back, with different kinds of ingredients and finished food on top; there was also a coffee maker and a small fridge. While the man filled Sora's parfait glass with thin pieces of fruits, Sora decided to wait at the side of the cashier and leaned his front on the counter.

"Oh, yeah. How is Mrs Mio?" said Sora conversationally. Mio was Takeru's young wife and worked as a investigator for the Destiny police. He blinked when his ears picked up a heavy sigh from the man. "Something wrong?"

"You could say that," Takeru replied, sounding so grave that Sora frowned. "Mio's been so busy lately. Have you seen the news?"

Sora smiled sheepishly. "No..."

Although Takeru couldn't see the sheepish smile, he heard the tone. "Sora..." said the man and said brunet winced and muttered a soft 'Sorry'. "You need to watch the news now and then, Sora. You'd never know what's happening around you." The man momentarily busied himself with taking a Paopu-flavoured ice-cream from the small refrigerator at the corner of the counter before he continued, "Anyway, there's been a three missing people lately and about five murder cases."

Sora gasped, "What?" The news was a little hard to believe. Despite having four islands near each other, Destiny was still relatively small and folks from here were usually known for their neighbourliness. It was not often that there were crimes like those in silent, peaceful Destiny Islands. "That's a bit hard to believe."

Takeru gave a nod. "That's what I thought when I first heard it. The three missing people and one murder were from Litan, the nearest to the mainland, and two of the murder cases were from Linea. The two most recent were from here in Mered."

"Have they found the killer yet?"

Sora had been hanging to every word Takeru uttered and was completely startled by the new voice behind him. He turned his head and caught sight of two newcomers. One of them, the taller of the two, wore a cap under his tied flaming red hair and was busy chewing possibly a gum. The last one, the same height as Sora, was a dark-haired teen with a rather stoic expression on his pale face. They were wearing casual clothes but Sora got the impression that they're not from Destiny.

They must have come here to order their food – what else would a person do in a café anyway – and were curious at the topic Sora and Takeru were talking about and silently listening in. Sora didn't mind; after all, it was rather rude of him to make them wait.

Takeru had turned around upon hearing a voice other than Sora's and was looking at the two strangers with a curious look. "Hello there!" said the man. "And to answer your question - no, they haven't caught them yet. It's making the police anxious and frustrated."

"Who wouldn't, with killers like those on the loose..." muttered Sora. One of the two strangers spoke up then and by his voice, Sora was sure it was the one who spoke up before.

"I'm curious, how did they die, Mister..."

"Just call me, Takeru,"

"And I'm Sora!" the brunet chirped, smiling kindly at the two. The taller one grinned back at them while the other merely gave a nod.

"The name's Lea and this guy with me is Lucas." said the cap-wearing man. Sora restrained himself from giggling at the name, 'Lea'. It sounded a bit too girlish for this tall man. His amusement must have been present slightly on his face because the one named Lucas raised an eyebrow at him. Sora minutely shook his head and smiled innocently.

"Nice to meet you, Lea, Lucas," Takeru smiled, "And again to answer your question, the police thought it's the same man behind all of it. They were killed the same way – terribly low blood level and scratched and maimed. Blood was everywhere in the murder scenes."

Sora couldn't help the shudder upon hearing that. Those poor people. What a painful way to die.

"That's all I know, really," finished Takeru. And Sora blinked when he was given a tray with the food he had ordered, having forgotten about his famished stomach with all the talking. Sora gratefully took it from the man with a bright smile and 'Thank you'.

"I'll go find a seat, then," said Sora and nodded at the other three before he turned and with a quick glance around the rectangular room, strode towards an empty four-person table at the corner. The café was still full to the brim with customers who were rather reluctant to leave the comfortable atmosphere of the shop. Sora couldn't blame them; Mr Takeru's café was honestly pleasant.

Sitting down on the chair nearest the wall, Sora took the first bite of his delicious piece of chocolate cake. He hummed in pleased contentment at the taste on his tongue.

Maybe he could call Kairi or Riku to see how the match was going (see if they heard about the news, too). A glance to his wristwatch told him the match was still going on. There'd be three blitzball matches today and Tidus' team play last so his friends should be in the middle of cheering Tidus and Wakka on. Could they hear their phone ring among all that loud cheering and booing?

"Mind if we sit here?" came the voice over him and Sora looked up at the two boys from before at the counter, looking rather stupid with a spoon hanging from his mouth and a dazed look on his face. He blinked, took out the spoon and nodded with a smile.

"Sure. Be my guest."

"Thanks." the dark-haired teen – Lucas, was it – said and the two occupied the two seat opposite from Sora. They had one cup of warm coffee and one sundae with them. It was quiet for a while in their table. Sora finished his cake silently, feeling a little bit awkward and wondering if he should start a conversation or something, and looked up through his lashes to see that Lucas was reading a newspaper laid on the table, his cup of coffee next to him. Lea was reading over his shoulder, whispering lowly that Sora could only hear some sort of a indistinguishable muttering. His own glass of sundae was half-finished.

From where he was, Sora could barely see the headline of the paper; _Miss Shiraishi and her husband; found dead in their house._ It must have been the two recent cases of murder in Mered Takeru was talking about.

"You sure are interested about the murders," commented Sora softly, drawing in two pairs of eyes on his face. Lea, the redhead, grinned at him.

"Yeah. Heard that the news was pretty shocking to folks here and all. Wouldn't you be curious?" said Lea and Sora shrugged.

"Well, yeah … but …" Sora trailed off.

"It's a lot interesting to us since we're tourists here," said Lea.

"I assumed that much. You guys don't look like from here or from any Destiny islands for that matter."

Lea grinned, "We're on vacation. You know, to get away from the home town to enjoy the summer before school starts."

Sora nodded, taking a bite from his parfait. "I know that feeling! Where are you guys from?" For a while, he and Lea talked about mindless things, with Lucas occasionally adding his two cents in the conversation. He found out early that the dark-haired teen was naturally quiet or brooding and solemn like Lea had said when Sora voiced it out. Lucas had rolled his eyes at that, which made Sora chuckle; he did seem to do that a lot with Lea.

Although the two had this wall-like aura around them, as though to repel others from their own little bubble, the two were rather friendly when you got the courage to talk to them.

Sora laughed at something Lea had said but trailed off when he caught Lucas' eyes – with their short distance, Sora could see the sky blue colour of his narrowed orbs – staring intently at him. He tilted his head and blinked. "Something wrong? Do I have something on my face?" He touched his cheeks gently

Lucas blinked as though coming out of a trance and slowly shook his head. Lea was also looking at him in question.

Lucas frowned and asked quietly, "It's just that – have I met you before?"

* * *

><p>.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.<p>

Chapter Word Count; 4270


	4. Let's Begin

**Authoress: **Ehh Rah Jhoy / Era

**Chapter Title: **Let's Begin

**Rating: **T

**Pairing: **Roxas/Sora

**Disclaimers: **I do not own the characters of Kingdom Hearts. Square Enix, Disney and Tetsuya Nomura owns them.

**Warnings: **Shounen Ai. Future Incest (I think everyone knows that already)

**A/N: **Ugh, finally finished it. Nothing much to say other than - enjoy to your heart's contents.

* * *

><p>Lucas frowned and asked quietly, "It's just that – have I met you before?"<p>

Sora blinked and looked down on his empty plate, wondering. He missed the something-there glance Lea had given to Lucas and busied himself in flitting through his memories and looking for either Lucas' face or name in them.

There wasn't really.

He'd never met nor heard of Lucas before. Looking up, he arched an amused eyebrow at the staring going on between the two other guys, their eyes boring into each other's. Chuckling lightly, he scrutinized Lucas' face and came to the realization that there was something familair in his features; like the rounded point of his nose and shape and colour of his eyes. He'd seen those same features in his own face, but surely, there were other people who had the same face as his; well, maybe not the same but nearly as if they were siblings even though they were really not - he'd heard something of that sort from Riku.

Sora spoke up and caught the two's attention immediately with his slightly confident tone of voice, "No, we've never met. But if you really, really look closely, we have the same nose and eyes! We nearly have the same face!"

Lucas and Lea blinked incredously at him but Sora merely continued smiling. Lea glanced at the two of them, comparing their faces and gasped. "Woah, it's true! You guys also have the same lips!"

Lucas arched an eyebrow and shrugged, still a bit in doubt at the revelation but accepting nonetheless. "If you guys say so..."

"Luc, it's true. Where's a mirror when you need one..."

Sora laughed when Lea presented the back of a teaspoon to Lucas' face, much to the dark-haired boy's annoyance. "My friend, Riku, said there's a few people who nearly looked the same, even though they're not related or anything."

Lucas hummed and nodded, grabbing the teaspoon from Lea and setting it down where it could get nowhere near his face. "I've never heard of that before."

Sora nodded and started when he felt something vibrate inside his pocket. He swiftly grabbed his phone and glanced down at it, immediately pushing the 'accept' button when he saw Kairi calling. He said a soft 'Excuse' to Lucas and Lea and called brightly into the phone, "Kairi!"

"Sora!" came his best female friend's voice from the other line.

"How's the blitzball game?"

"Oh. it was great! Tidus' team won their game!" Sora's smile grew bigger at the news and he was about to start cheering, mindless of others, when Kairi continued. "Are you with Riku right now?"

Sora let out 'huh'-like sound. "No... I thought he was with you. Didn't you guys go to the game together? With Selph?"

"What? No!"

"Well, he wasn't with me." Sora frowned then, worriness for his best friend creeping in before he shook it off. Something must have come up suddenly and it occupied Riku; he was too busy to call them even. "I'll call Riku later today, 'kay? I can go to his house too, maybe."

"Alright", said Kairi and Sora noted the anxious tone in her voice.

"Don't worry, Kai. I'm sure he's fine. Something probably came up at home." Sora could feel the two pair of eyes staring curiously at him and momentarily flashed a smile at Lucas and Lea before turning back to Kairi.

"Okay then. Tell him to call me next, 'kay."

"Will do!" The call ended then but Sora continued to stare thoughtfully and despite it all, a bit worriedly at the phone. A soft call of his name made him look up and see his two companions' questioning gaze. Putting on a smile, he said, "It's a friend of mine, Kairi. She's worried about Riku since he didn't come at usual meeting place, 'cause Riku don't normally just go off and not tell us."

"I see..." said Lea, not really knowing what to say to that. "I'm sure he's fine... I think..." Lucas elbowed him slightly on the stomach and Sora let out a chuckle.

"Yeah," Sora glanced momentarily out the window and suddenly exclaimed, "Shit! I gotta go!"

Lucas and Lea's eyes turned to the window and saw the already orange-tainted sky. Few people walked down the street while a small number of cars flew past now and then. "Hah... time sure moved fast," Lea mused, an excited grin forming on his face.

"It's six-forty-nine," said Sora, looking up from his phone. "I should be home at seven. It's really nice to meet you guys. Wanna hang out together some time?" The brunet caught the hesitance barely hidden in Lea's eyes and smile and Sora hastily said, "Of course, if you don't want to, it's okay! I mean, we've only met today so of course you-"

"Give me your number."

Sora shut his mouth and turned to Lucas. "Huh?"

Lucas rolled his eyes at him, pulled out a red phone and handed it to Sora. "Your cell number. Give it to us and we'll call you."

"Oh," said Sora slowly before he gingerly took the phone and tapped in his number. Giving it back to Lucas, Sora smiled warmly. "I have to go then! See ya!"

And out the door he went, after waving goodbye at Takeru, steps as bouncy as normal and his chocolate spikes bobbing slightly up and down as he moved. He waved at Lucas and Lea when he passed the café window and proceeded to go to the dock. He was just in time when the boat docked in for the passengers and as soon as Sora got in, he took out his phone and tried to call Riku but the silver-haired teen didn't answer back.

"This number is unavailable to take your call. Please leave a message after the..."

It was the same every time he called Riku's phone and Sora had called about five times now. Riku was an orphan and lived with a cousin of his in an apartment near the local school but Doumei also seemed to not have his phone with him, leaving Sora no more alternatives in getting contact with Riku. Sora was getting mighty worried, no matter how much he tried to cast it off and be optimistic.

Riku was fine, he thought as he trudged down the street to his house. Riku probably left his phone when he went out to who-knows-where. Or their phones were broken or something like that and they couldn't fix it right away. But if that's so, Riku would've been able to go with Kairi and Selphie regardless?

Biting anxiously on his lower lip, Sora unlocked the entrance door and let himself in, calling out softly as the door closed once again, "Mom! I'm home!"

"In the kitchen, dear! I've just finished making dinner!" came his mother's voice and Sora headed to the kitchen, still clutching his phone at the possibility that Riku would call back.

"How's your day?" Nagisa asked as he bustled around the kitchen, cooking the last bit for dinner.

Sora sat down on the table seat and answered rather quietly, "It's been great. I went to Mered after we went to the graveyard and met two new friends." A smile lit up Sora's face at the thought of Lucas and Lea. Nagisa hummed and placed two plates of spaghetti on the table

"That's nice, dear. You had a great time then?"

"Well, yeah." Sora's tone of voice made Nagisa look up curiously at her son and the brunet continued quietly, brow furrowing. "It's Riku, Mom. Kairi said she hadn't seen Riku since yesterday and they were going to meet together with Selphie today but he didn't come. And I've been calling him for some time now and he's not responding. Me and Kairi's kinda getting worried."

Nagisa ruffled her son's hair and said comfortingly, "I'm sure he's fine, Sora. Riku's very mature for his age."

"I know that but..."

"You'll just visit him tomorrow, 'kay. He's probably at his apartment now, sleeping fine."

"Okay," Sora sighed and dinner went on without incidents after that.

* * *

><p>Sora had first met Kairi during first grade, when he and Riku were playing at the shore, building sandcastles that looked more like a triangular mound of dirt. Riku was just criticizing Sora's work which resulted to a sulky and indignant brunet when a giggle came from behind the two of them. They looked up, startled, and saw a girl with pink hair - an odd color like Riku's, thought Sora - and blue eyes that were tinted with violet. After the initial fight between the two boys about letting a girl in the group - Riku's against and Sora's all for it - Kairi completed the trio.<p>

Being the best of friends, the three had grown up learning about each other - their interest, likes and dislikes, hobbies, tendencies, idiosyncrasies, and quirks. And the boys learned early on that Kairi was a worry-wart at heart, no matter how hard she tried to hide it and be all cool like Riku, and becoming more so as they grew up. (To be perfectly honest, _things_ happened that made her so.)

" -can't possibly had the time to call me - or you! I mean, if he did go somewhere - and I'm sure he didn't - he should have told us - not letting me wait for him for who-knows-how long! Come on, Sora! You said he didn't answer your calls! This could be some-"

"Kairi!" Sora, his ear having enough of being screeched to numbness, grabbed Kairi's shoulder and stared seriously into his eyes. Kairi's anxious expression made Sora smile softly and comfortingly. "I'm sure Riku's fine. Maybe something did happen," at this Kairi became more alarmed and started trembling slightly, and Sora hastily continued, "I'm not saying something bad happened, but something happened and it took all his time and he couldn't call us because he's really busy and so-"

"But he should have called us by now! It's half past nine!"

"In the morning!" Sora said. "Maybe he's still sleeping. It's going to be fine, Kairi. That's why we're going to visit him right now - see him, okay?"

Kairi slowly nodded and Sora gave her another comforting smile. Despite what he said, Sora too was getting anxious by the minute. He didn't completely know why, really, but there's this looming feeling up his head, like still, dark clouds just waiting for the right time to rain down droplets of water and flashes of lightning to the people below - a calm before the storm. But Riku's fine; he's Riku and only few could mess with Riku without hurting from either strong punches or sharp insults, or both. Thus, they continued on their way, walking down the street and into another division.

They passed by houses that steadily became more like a bachelor pads and apartments than the last. Finally, before Kairi could start to rant again and possibly disable Sora from hearing, they arrived in front of the door to Riku's apartment that he shared with his cousin. Kairi knocked twice and was about to deliver a third, more forceful one when the door opened slightly with a soft creak. The two shared worried, lower-lip-biting looks before Sora took hold of the knob and fully opened the door.

What filled their eyes upon stepping in caused the two of them to gasp and Kairi to fall down to her knees, gripping Sora's hand too tightly. Sora was left looking stunned and deathly still, a terrified look, much like what Kairi had on, steadily forming on his cherubic face. There, on the couch, among the mess of couches, papers, china, and clothes, was a familiar man laying down face first with his limbs bent at unbelievable angles and blood staining the couch and carpet.

Kairi screamed.


End file.
